FACEBOOK
GOOGLE
Interview: The Dresden Dolls (Pt. 2)
Interview: The Dresden Dolls (Pt. 2)
- Genre : More Music
- Type: News
- Author : Super Admin
- Date : Thu, 05 Jun 2008
Boston is very stagnant in a lot of ways. It's inspiring to see bands and artists emerge from that area.
It's funny, because there's always been a great undercurrent of inhibition on the East Coast, but it's not really a dominating presence. Again, we have very ambivalent feelings about Boston itself. It's because we have a wonderful hometown crowd, and we came from a great, very supportive artistic community here, years ago. However, the city as a whole, suffers from a lack of resources and a lack of ambition to really develop its music and arts scene.
Definitely, and there's no film scene at all—which is funny, because there are so many film schools in the city.
That may be a part of it. Everyone is too caught up in their dorms, instead of going out to the venues and showing each other their work and collaborating together. I think that's one of the advantages that New York has over a more collegiate city like Boston. Boston's just dominated by college students and working professionals. You can see the example in Berklee College of music. Here, there's an actual music school, but none of these kids are in the clubs performing their music. They're only doing it in the classrooms.
Well the old saying goes, "If you graduated from Berklee, you failed."
Yeah, basically! It's hard, because Berklee itself is emblematic of that institutionalized style of learning. When you're in the arts and you have someone dictating what's valid or not, you're never going to develop the sense of self or the confidence to strike out in any new direction, because you're constantly trying to do it by the book. I'm hoping that maybe Boston is just in a lull right now. From 1999-2003, Boston had a really strong arts community. There were great art galleries, and there were things happening all the time. There was an organized and centralized feeling to the art community, but we've lost a lot of the art spaces to real estate price increases, fires, general displacement and people having to move. A lot of it is from the gentrification of the city as a whole, too. It's been tough. People don't have a chance to get together, work and exchange ideas. It's very difficult to channel that energy into the public forum. There's no real sense of a meeting place anymore.
The Boston suburbs are especially desolate.
To me, the suburbs are desolate everywhere you go, not just the Northeast. Certainly, they can be. Oftentimes, they can breed some really good stuff too. Part of the reason that I got involved in music was from lack of things to do in my hometown. So I turned all of that boredom into playing the drums.
Your playing is very technical, but at the same time there's so much feeling.
I was really attracted to that element of powerful delivery. I found that in jazz, punk rock and heavy metal. Also, I was inspired by really expressive musicians. On stage, guys like Nick Cave have a tremendous impact. Also, being able to communicate and improvise on stage with band mates is something that helped me. I played with a lot of people growing up. I had one best friend from fifth grade through high school that I would jam with every day after school. We both learned to play by making up songs together. Meeting Amanda, it actually wound up being a very similar feeling. We just made music together and developed that kind of language. I think that's something that's helped my style take shape.
You and Amanda have a natural, creative chemistry.
Exactly, I think we have a connection over shared experience, but also it's a connection over both wanting to pursue music on a serious level. We didn't fit in the nine-to-five world. When you find someone else that has similar ambition, but also the left-of-center approach to life, it's a tremendous morale booster, in a way. We just managed to fit in and lock with a lot of stylistic and aesthetic choices as well. It's really great.
You've created something so personal that it could only come from you two.
keep reading »
1
It's funny, because there's always been a great undercurrent of inhibition on the East Coast, but it's not really a dominating presence. Again, we have very ambivalent feelings about Boston itself. It's because we have a wonderful hometown crowd, and we came from a great, very supportive artistic community here, years ago. However, the city as a whole, suffers from a lack of resources and a lack of ambition to really develop its music and arts scene.
Definitely, and there's no film scene at all—which is funny, because there are so many film schools in the city.
That may be a part of it. Everyone is too caught up in their dorms, instead of going out to the venues and showing each other their work and collaborating together. I think that's one of the advantages that New York has over a more collegiate city like Boston. Boston's just dominated by college students and working professionals. You can see the example in Berklee College of music. Here, there's an actual music school, but none of these kids are in the clubs performing their music. They're only doing it in the classrooms.
“when I was little, I used to watch those early Muppet movies where Kermit the Frog was like, 'I want to sing, dance and make millions of people happy'”
Well the old saying goes, "If you graduated from Berklee, you failed."
Yeah, basically! It's hard, because Berklee itself is emblematic of that institutionalized style of learning. When you're in the arts and you have someone dictating what's valid or not, you're never going to develop the sense of self or the confidence to strike out in any new direction, because you're constantly trying to do it by the book. I'm hoping that maybe Boston is just in a lull right now. From 1999-2003, Boston had a really strong arts community. There were great art galleries, and there were things happening all the time. There was an organized and centralized feeling to the art community, but we've lost a lot of the art spaces to real estate price increases, fires, general displacement and people having to move. A lot of it is from the gentrification of the city as a whole, too. It's been tough. People don't have a chance to get together, work and exchange ideas. It's very difficult to channel that energy into the public forum. There's no real sense of a meeting place anymore.
The Boston suburbs are especially desolate.
To me, the suburbs are desolate everywhere you go, not just the Northeast. Certainly, they can be. Oftentimes, they can breed some really good stuff too. Part of the reason that I got involved in music was from lack of things to do in my hometown. So I turned all of that boredom into playing the drums.
Your playing is very technical, but at the same time there's so much feeling.
I was really attracted to that element of powerful delivery. I found that in jazz, punk rock and heavy metal. Also, I was inspired by really expressive musicians. On stage, guys like Nick Cave have a tremendous impact. Also, being able to communicate and improvise on stage with band mates is something that helped me. I played with a lot of people growing up. I had one best friend from fifth grade through high school that I would jam with every day after school. We both learned to play by making up songs together. Meeting Amanda, it actually wound up being a very similar feeling. We just made music together and developed that kind of language. I think that's something that's helped my style take shape.
You and Amanda have a natural, creative chemistry.
Exactly, I think we have a connection over shared experience, but also it's a connection over both wanting to pursue music on a serious level. We didn't fit in the nine-to-five world. When you find someone else that has similar ambition, but also the left-of-center approach to life, it's a tremendous morale booster, in a way. We just managed to fit in and lock with a lot of stylistic and aesthetic choices as well. It's really great.
You've created something so personal that it could only come from you two.
keep reading »
1
RELATED NEWS
Share
